A full 75% of Americans decide to retire near where they currently live. We reveal the top choices and best values in America’s 10 biggest metro areas.

WORCESTER, MA (June 13, 2003) – Finding the perfect place for retirement doesn’t mean you have to move far from home. Whether you’re a baby boomer or full-fledged senior, you could find a great place to retire and still be close to family and friends if you look into one of NeighborhoodScout’s top choices for retiring locally.

While many people view retirement as an ideal time to move away from home to an exotic setting, studies show that just the opposite occurs. Some 75 percent of retirees actually stay near where they currently live, where they’ve built a life and have ties to family and community.

“Retirement is changing for the better, as active seniors and 50+ baby boomers, or zoomers, look to get more out of this next stage in their lives,” said Andrew Schiller, president of Location Inc™. “Finding a great place to retire that combines the excitement of a dream retirement locale with the comforts and advantages of being close to family, friends and community, is the ideal solution for 3 out of 4 of today’s retirees.”

Schiller, a PhD geographer and specialist in American demographics, has developed one of the largest neighborhood-matching databases in existence, integrating data from the Census Bureau, Federal Housing Authority, Department of Education, U.S. Geological Service, and even the FBI, and covering every neighborhood in America. “We call it NeighborhoodScout™, and it’s accessible over the Internet for free,” says Schiller. “You can describe your ideal neighborhood and find real neighborhoods that best match your personal criteria in any area of the country.”

Schiller uncovered the top choices for retiring locally by using NeighborhoodScout to search the nation’s ten most populous metro areas. He used criteria important to many people 50 and over who are planning their retirement: communities that offer a unique combination of safety from crime, peace and quiet, an educated and vibrant blend of seniors and other age groups, striking scenery, and diverse options for housing – all within 75 miles of the city center.

“Using NeighborhoodScout, a handful of great towns emerged as phenomenal choices that offer all the excitement and satisfaction of moving to a dream retirement location, yet are close to friends, children, and grandchildren, making it easy to enjoy the best of both worlds,” Schiller said.

For each of the ten largest metro areas NeighborhoodScout found two towns ideal for people 50+ to consider — one a top choice and one a best value. “These 20 towns vary in price and character, from the shores of Cape Cod and Michigan City to the country club estates of Fort Worth, to the small-town feel of Newtown Square,” said Schiller. “But all are absolutely beautiful places to retire, they just happen to be near where we already call home.”

Here are the top towns for retiring locally (by metro area from east to west):

The public can try NeighborhoodScout for free at www.NeighborhoodScout.com. Besides retirees, NeighborhoodScout is useful for young families looking to buy their first home, career-starters, relocating workers and their families, second-home buyers or anyone looking to purchase a home and wanting to save time and money. NeighborhoodScout pairs one of the largest neighborhood databases every created with a patent-pending algorithm that matches real neighborhoods to consumer-specified criteria in seconds

Editor’s Note

NeighborhoodScout’s database includes information from the FBI, the US Justice Department, the US Bureau of the Census, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other agencies. “Educated seniors” means people 65 and up with college degrees or graduate degrees. “Crime” is all FBI crime index scores – both violent and property – as a rate per 1,000 population for the community. “Diverse housing options” a blend of owner-occupied and rental housing, from single family homes to condos and townhouses. “Peace and quiet” means less crowded.

About Location Inc

Location Inc is a Massachusetts-based company born of university research, specializing in nationwide relocation software, retail site selection, and real estate investment advising. Find your ideal neighborhood at www.NeighborhoodScout.com.